


Sweet Child o' Mine

by ziam_paynes (asherly89)



Series: The Kink Files [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Play, Baby Niall, Cuddling & Snuggling, Daddy Kink, Daddy Zayn, Fluff, Infantilism, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 10:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1547177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asherly89/pseuds/ziam_paynes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn finds out Niall likes to be a baby to relieve stress. He thinks it's cute and once he talks with Niall he becomes "Papa" when Niall needs to be little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Child o' Mine

**Author's Note:**

> All mistakes are mine.

It started when Zayn found a stuffed dog in Niall’s bunk while he was looking for Niall’s extra pair of headphones. He didn’t think much of it. They all have little knick knacks they have in their bunk that help them sleep. But when Niall sees Zayn touching said stuffed dog he flips out.

“What are you doing?” Niall exclaims coming over to his bunk and taking the stuffed dog out of Zayn’s hand.

“Nothing, mate, I was looking for your extra headphones,” Zayn replies.

Niall holds the dog to his chest, like it’s the most precious thing in the world, “Well don’t go through my bunk. I’ve got stuff in there.”

Zayn rolls his eyes, “We all have stuff in our bunks, calm down.”

Niall pushes Zayn out of the way without another word and quickly finds the headphones in question handing them over to him and putting his dog back into his bunk.

“Thanks,” Zayn lamely says and walks away without another word.

* * *

The next time Zayn thinks something’s going on with Niall is when he finds him in a corner of the dressing room coloring in a coloring book. It’s not unusual for them to play with Lux, but she’s no where to be found.

“Hey what are you up to?” Zayn asks walking over to Niall.

Niall looks up with big eyes, “N-nothing.” He quickly shuts the book and starts putting crayons back in the box.

“You can keep coloring. I just wanted to know why,” Zayn replies.

Niall shakes his head, “No reason. Just felt like it.”

Zayn smiles, “Yeah I know the feeling.”

* * *

The third time Zayn finally figures it out. He catches Niall in the back lounge of their bus with a dummy and baby blanket curled up on the couch watching a movie on netflix. A kids movie.

“Niall...what’s going on?” Zayn asks surprised at what he’s seeing.

Niall picks his head up quickly and the dummy falls from his mouth, but he knows he’s been caught. So he starts crying.

Zayn rushes over to him and takes him in his arms, “Shh...it’s okay. I’m not mad or anything. Just surprised is all.”

Niall curls into his chest trying to hide his face from the other boy. Zayn lets him and gently rubs his back while he waits for Niall to calm down.

When Niall does he pushes away from Zayn starting to put his blanket and dummy away.

“Hey, it’s cool you know?” Zayn says, “Wanting to be little or whatever.”

Niall shrugs.

“We can talk about it if you want,” Zayn says trying to get Niall to talk.

Niall shook his head, “I...I don’t wanna.”

Zayn smiles, “Okay, but if you want to come find me, yeah?”

Niall nods.

Zayn gets up from his seat and kisses Niall’s forehead, “I’ll tell the others to leave you alone. You can have your time.”

Niall gives him a weak smile, “Thanks.”

Zayn smiles, “Talk to you later.”

* * *

It takes Niall two days to come to Zayn so they can talk about what Zayn saw. Zayn in the meantime had looked up what Niall was doing. He found certain people liked to be babied as adults. They have a headspace of being little and they have someone there to take care of them. People who want to be adult babies live normal lives and when they go home they go into their headspace to be little.

Zayn finds website after website for all things about adult babies. He reads stories from those that are adult babies as well as those who take care of them. He find a forum for carers of adult babies who talk about their babies and different things that happen.

The last site he goes to is everything for your baby. It’s a site that’s filled with clothes, supplies, and furniture that you can purchase to make living a baby 100% real. He bookmarks the site because there’s some good things on there they he wants to show Niall.

When Niall comes up to him later he’s all shy and he’s cheeks are red, “C-can we talk?”

Zayn nods. Niall takes his hand and leads him to the back of the bus closing the door to the lounge behind him.

Zayn sits and waits for Niall to talk.

“I...I like being little. I don’t know why but something with the whole cuddling up to my blanket and sucking on a dummy is nice. I like to get out of our crazy lives sometimes and it helps,” Niall explains, “I understand if you think it’s weird or whatever, but I like it.”

Zayn gives him a small smile, “I don’t think it’s weird. We all have things we do to relieve stress or whatever. This is just your way of doing it.”

Niall moves closer, “Thank you.”

Zayn puts an arm around him, “You’re welcome...I’ll be honest I looked it up. I get why you do it.”

Niall gives him a surprised look.

“I wanted to know what you were doing and why. I found some good sites and stuff. Helped me understand where you’re coming from and all. One site I looked at was all about caring for adult babies. It was pretty useful,” Zayn tells him, “I-I don’t know if you want me to, but I’d be up to help you out...if you want.”

Niall thinks it over and smiles, “Yeah...yeah I’d like that.”

Zayn smiles back, “We can set up rules if you want.”

Niall nods, “Yeah I’d like that.”

Zayn takes his arm from around Niall back and straightens up, “First how into this are you? Like just some toys or like nappies and clothes?”

Niall shakes his head, “No nappies! Clothes I don’t know. Never really thought about it...just been liking a dummy, blanket, and toys really.”

Zayn nods, “Okay. What about bottles?”

Niall shrugs, “I thought about it, but kind of hard to get a bottle ready when you’ve got four other lads running around a bus.”

Zayn chuckles, “Yeah, we can do it. If you want. Hotel night if coming up soon.”

Niall thinks it over, “Maybe.”

“Do you want a code word or something so we both know when you want to be little? I mean it seems like you don’t want to be little every night, so if we have something that’s set so I know or you know when you to,” Zayn asks.

“Pineapple,” Niall replies.

“Pineapple? Alright. Anytime you or I say to each other pineapple we know what to do,” Zayn says, “Anything else?”

Niall gets shy and looks away. He’s blushing before he can even ask.

Zayn notices, “You can ask whatever you want. I won’t be mad or anything.”

Niall mumbles, “Can I call you papa?”

Zayn picks up the last word and puts it together in his head what Niall’s trying to ask without having him repeat it, “You can call me whatever you want while you’re little.”

Niall perks up, “Thank you...thank you for understanding and not being freaked out or anything.”

Zayn pulls him against him again, “It’s no problem.”

Niall cuddles close, “When you found me a couple of days ago I was so far into it that when you came in I didn’t know what to do so I started to cry. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Zayn says.

Niall relaxes into him, “Glad you’re my papa.”

Zayn smiles and kisses the top of head, “Glad you’re my baby.”

* * *

When they get to the hotel a day later Zayn gets his room before Niall, so he tells Paul to let them bunk together. Paul just shrugs since it’s not the first time any of them have asked to room together even if they all have their own rooms.

When Zayn and Niall get to Zayn’s room they’re quiet. Zayn sits on the end of the bed looking at Niall while Niall looks down at the floor.

“You want to get something to eat?” Zayn asks.

Niall shrugs, “I don’t care.”

Zayn moves to find the room service to menu. When he finds it he looks through it quickly deciding that he wants the chicken sandwich and knows that Niall will eat anything he gets him. While he places the order over the hotel phone he sees from the corner of his eye Niall go over to his bag and gets out a smaller bag from it.

Once Zayn’s finished on the phone getting their food he goes over to Niall to see what he has, “What you got there?”

Niall shows him the bag. Zayn takes it and opens it up to find a couple of dummies, the baby blanket he had seen Niall with before, the stuffed dog from his bunk, and a bottle.

“Do you want a dummy?” Zayn asks taking one out.

“Yes,” Niall replies.

“You have better manners than that,” Zayn chides, not handing the dummy over.

“Pwease?” Niall asks with a pout.

Zayn smiles and puts the dummy into Niall’s mouth. Niall smiles around the rubber tit, “Tanks.”

Zayn kisses his forehead, “Such good manners, baby.”

Niall blushes, “Pwease have George?”

Zayn frowns not knowing what George is, but when he looks into the bag and spots the dog he thinks that what’s Niall wants so he takes the dog out and hands him over. Niall gives him another big smile.

“Why don’t you wash up for dinner? Food should be here soon,” Zayn says to him.

Niall follows the order and goes to the bathroom to wash his hands. Zayn gets the bottle out of the bag and moves over to the sink to wash it out. He finds apple juice in the mini fridge and thanks the gods that it was there. He pours the juice into the bottle and places it down on the table for Niall.

“Ni, baby, you okay?” Zayn asks after he notices that Niall isn’t back from washing up.

He goes to the bathroom and finds Niall washing George in the sink, “Niall what are you doing?!”

Niall looks up in surprise, “George needs wash too!” his words slurred around the dummy in his mouth.

Zayn sighs, “First do not talk with your dummy in your mouth and second George is all wet now! You won’t be able to sleep with him if he’s all wet.”

Niall’s eyes go big and he drops the dog into the sink making him even wetter, “Swrry.”

Zayn shakes his head, “It’s okay. I’ll dry him off in a little bit. Right now you go sit at the table and wait for food. There’s a bottle there if you want something to drink.”

Niall bounces out of the bathroom without a second thought leaving Zayn with a very wet stuffed dog.

When they’re food arrives Zayn answers the door and takes the food from the bellhop before he can enter the room. He’s not in the mood to have the guy see Niall with a dummy in mouth acting like he’s a little kid.

“Food’s here!” Zayn calls from the door.

Niall perks up and looks to see what Zayn’s gotten for him. Zayn uncovers the first dish, which is his chicken sandwich with fruit. The second is Niall’s and it has chicken fingers and chips.

Niall’s face lights up, “Chick and chips!”

Zayn smiles and places the plate in front of Niall. Niall looks up, “Ketchup?”

Zayn looks and sees there’s a little cup of it on the tray. He passes it to Niall who looks down at it with a pout.

“What’s wrong baby?” Zayn asks seeing the pout.

“No more?” Niall asks.

Zayn shakes his head, “Sorry, baby, no more. I can call to get more.”

Niall nods, “more pwease.”

Zayn moves to phone and quickly asks for more ketchup to be sent up to his room.

Niall’s picking at his chicken and chips.

“Eat some chips or something while you wait,” Zayn tells him.

Niall picks up a chip and drops it into the ketchup before taking a bite and smiling at Zayn to show him he’s being good.

Zayn smiles back.

After dinner Zayn puts the plates out into the hall to be collected. He goes back to Niall’s who go this dummy still out of his mouth and looking at the bottle like it’s something gross.

“Let me wipe your face then we can cuddle on the bed,” Zayn tells him moving into the bathroom to get a wash cloth.

He comes back and wipes off the ketchup that’s on Niall’s cheeks placing a kiss on his cheek, “Such a good boy.”

Niall blushes. He puts the dummy back in his mouth sucking on it like it’s the last thing he’ll ever do.

“Bed? We can get changed into pyjamas first if you want,” Zayn tells Niall.

Niall nods and starts to take his shirt off. Zayn gets out his clothes to sleep in as well as going over Niall’s bag to grab his.

“Do you need help?” Zayn asks.

“No, I do it myself!” Niall exclaims.

“What did I tell you about talking with the dummy in your mouth?” Zayn sternly warns.

Niall takes the dummy out, “No talking with dummy.”

“That’s right,” Zayn says.

They get changed into their pyjamas and when Niall’s settled into bed Zayn brings over the bottle that’s been set on the table since he put the apple juice in it.

Zayn eyes Niall before handing the bottle over. Niall takes it in hand and looks it.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Zayn says.

Niall looks up at Zayn, “Cuddles?”

Zayn nods, “Yeah, move over.”

Niall moves over and Zayn gets on the bed next to him. He moves his arm so Niall can snuggle into his side. Niall gets comfortable and looks up at Zayn. “Yes?” Zayn asks.

Niall hands him the bottle.

“You want me to feed you?” Zayn guesses.

Niall blushes, but nods his head.

“I can do that. Come on, come sit on my lap,” Zayn says and moves to let Niall climb into his lap.

Niall gets comfortable and places his head on Zayn’s shoulder. Zayn moves the bottle so it’s at Niall’s lips and Niall latches onto it. Zayn rubs Niall’s arm while he watches him suck down the juice from the bottle.

When it’s empty, Zayn puts the bottle on the nightstand. Niall puts the dummy he’s had in his hand the whole time back in his mouth as he settles down to cuddle into Zayn.

“Want to watch a movie?” Zayn asks.

Niall nods against his shoulder.

“You’ll have to get off my lap so I can grab my laptop,” Zayn tells him.

Niall lets out a whine, but moves to let Zayn get up. Zayn quickly gets his laptop out of his bag and comes back over to bed. He gets Netflix up and they go through the children’s movies until Niall decides he want to watch The Lorax.

They get comfortable in bed with Zayn’s arm back around Niall with Niall resting with his back to his chest.

Halfway through the movie Niall squirms, “What’s wrong?” Zayn asks.

“Wee,” Niall answers.

Zayn pauses the movie, “Go on. Do you need help?”

“No! I do myself!” Niall replies and quickly crawls off the bed and over to the bathroom.

Zayn listens to the toilet flush and hears the water go meaning Niall’s washing his hands. Zayn gets up to make sure he isn’t cleaning George again.

“Good job washing your hands!” Zayn exclaims when Niall’s done.

Niall smiles, “George clean?” He holds up the dog.

Zayn comes over to him and touches the dog to see if it’s dry. It’s still damp, so he shakes his head, “Not yet. He’s still wet.”

Niall hunches his shoulders in defeat. He puts George back on the bathroom counter and goes back to the bed to watch the rest of the movie.

Zayn follows him.

After the movie Niall’s yawning so Zayn decides it’s time for bed. He gets Niall comfortable under the covers, “Sweet dreams, baby.” He kisses Niall’s forehead.

“George?” Niall asks.

Zayn goes into the bathroom to get the dog in question. He’s still wet and Zayn doesn’t want to give him back to Niall that way. He sees the blow dryer and gets an idea. Starting the little blow dryer up he takes George and starts to dry him with it. After a few minutes the dog is less wet then he was, so Zayn deems him okay to sleep with.

“Got him! He’s dry now!” Zayn happily tells Niall.

Niall makes grabby hands for the dog and Zayn hands him over. Niall cuddles him close under his chin.

“Sleep now,” Zayn says. He kisses Niall once more.

“Papa sleep?” Niall asks.

“In a little bit. Papa’s got to do something first,” Zayn answers.

Niall nods, “Night Papa.”

“Night baby,” Zayn replies.

* * *

The next morning Niall’s still little when he wakes, but by the time they have to leave he’s back to being himself. All of his baby things are packed away in his bag, safe until they’re needed again.

“Hey I meant to ask last night...where’d you get the bottle?” Zayn asks as they’re about to leave the room.

Niall blushes, “I picked it up at some store before the show last night.”

“Did you like it?” Zayn asks.

“Y-yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Niall replies.

* * *

The next time Zayn and Niall have time to Niall in headspace as being little. Is a week later while they’re in the bus. The boys have all piled into the bus after the show and already on their way to the next city. There’s no hotel for the night, so they’re stuck on the bus with the boys.

Niall comes up behind Zayn putting an arm around his waist, “I could really use some pineapple.”

Zayn turns around to look at Niall, “Really?”

Niall nods.

“Okay, okay just five minutes yeah? Go get your stuff and meet me in the back?” Zayn tells him.

Niall nods again.

None of the other boys notice Niall slipping away. Zayn talks to them as the minutes tick by and when he feels like he can go without being missed he leaves the others in the front lounge and goes to the back.

He finds Niall already sucking on his dummy, a movie on the TV, and his baby blanket wrapped around him.

Zayn’s face softens, “Hey baby.”

“Papa,” Niall says and holds his arms out for him.

Zayn comes over and moves Niall around so they’re both laying on the couch. Niall lets out a content sigh and goes back to watching the movie.

When it’s over Niall turns to look at Zayn, “Sleep with Papa?”

“You want to sleep with me tonight?” Zayn asks.

“Pwease?” Niall begs.

“If you promise not to kick me out of my bunk we can sleep together,” Zayn replies.

Niall smiles around his dummy and hugs Zayn.

They stay in the back lounge long enough that the others have gone to bed so it’s easy to get to the bunks without anyone seeing them.

Niall gets in first and turns on his side so Zayn has enough room to get in as well. Of course as soon as their comfortable Niall decides he needs to use the bathroom, so he climbs over Zayn and goes quickly coming back with a smile and George in his hand.

“All better?” Zayn asks.

Niall nods and climbs back into the bunk.

“No more getting up. It’s time to sleep,” Zayn tells him.

“Lwv you Papa,” Niall whispers.

“Love you too, baby,” Zayn replies kissing his forehead.

* * *

As the weeks go on and the tour continues they’ve had a handful of times to let Niall be little. It’s getting towards when they have a week off and everyone is counting down the days. They can all feel the fatigue and how much the break is needed.

Zayn sees it halfway through the show. Niall’s cracking and it won’t need well if he can’t get into his headspace soon. Zayn touches him throughout the concert to make sure Niall knows he’s there. It seems to help and soon Niall is following him around trying to get his attention.

Once off stage Zayn takes Niall by his wrist and pulls him to one of the rooms not being used.

Once the door is closed Zayn takes Niall into his arms, “Come on, baby.”

Niall holds him close and breathes in Zayn’s scent. It’s more sweat than his cologne, but it helps calm Niall.

“As soon as we’re on the bus, yeah?” Zayn whispers in his ear. He doesn’t have to use their codeword or anything because Niall knows what he’s asking.

“Papa,” Niall weakly says.

Zayn holds him tighter, “I’ve got you. Papa’s got you.”

They stay together a few minutes more before Zayn decides they need to get back to the rest of the boys and to get on the bus.

Zayn takes Niall’s hand leading him to the dressing room where everyone else would be.

“Where’d you two run off to?” Louis asks when they come in.

“Had to have a moment,” Zayn replies and doesn’t explain further. Niall stays quiet.

“Oh a moment,” Louis teases.

Zayn can feel Niall tease, “Just leave it yeah?”

Louis shakes his head, but doesn’t say anything more.

“Get changed quickly,” Zayn says to Niall and lets him go so he can get his clothes off.

Zayn and Niall get out of their stage outfits and soon are walking to the bus. The other boys are still hanging back in the dressing room getting one last round of foosball in, so it gives Niall and Zayn time to get onto the bus without anyone talking to them.

Moving to his bunk, Zayn, gets the dummy that’s been under his pillow for days and puts it in Niall’s mouth before they go into the back lounge.

Once in the room Zayn has Niall sit on the couch as he goes to the hiding place where they keep Niall’s baby stuff. He pulls out the blanket and a bottle. He hands the blanket to Niall, who takes it and presses it to his face as he lays down.

“I’ll back in a minute,” Zayn says to him before walking out of the lounge and to the mini fridge in the front.

He’s almost in the clear when the door to the bus opens and Liam comes in.

“Hey we’re thinking of having a FIFA tourney tonight if you,” Liam says breaking off his sentence, “Is that a baby bottle?”

Zayn looks down at the plastic bottle in hand. He can’t hide it, “Y-yeah.”

“Oh um I...I can go,” Liam says.

“It’s fine. Just...I’ll be in the back lounge. Stay out for a while,” Zayn replies.

Liam nods, “I’ll keep the others out as well.”

“Thank you,” Zayn says and turns to go back to Niall.

When he gets back into the lounge, shutting the door behind him, Niall eyes the bottle and lets the dummy in his mouth fall. Zayn gives him a small smile as he walks over to him to give him the bottle.

Zayn lets Niall settle onto his lap like the first time at the hotel and puts the bottle to his mouth letting Niall latch on. They quietly sit there as Niall sucks down the juice. Zayn thinks about how Liam saw the bottle. He didn’t even ask who it was for, but he knows that he’ll have to talk to Liam about it at some point.

When Niall’s done with his bottle he spits the nipple out and searches with his hand for his dummy. When he can’t find it quick enough he moves off of Zayn to see if he can see it anywhere, but can’t.

“P-papa,” Niall stutters, “Dummy. No find.”

Zayn stands up, “Okay, calm down it’s around here somewhere.”

Zayn spots it on the floor and picks it up, “Have to clean it off. I’ll be right back.”

Niall grabs his wrist before he goes, “Papa stay.”

“I have to clean off your dummy,” Zayn explains. He gets Niall’s hand off him and moves to the bathroom. He washes the dummy in the water quickly and moves back to the lounge.

Niall’s sitting on the couch, tears coming down his face.

“Baby what’s wrong?” Zayn asks.

“Papa leave. No want,” Niall tearfully tells him. He grabs onto Zayn and pulls him down onto the couch.

Zayn goes with the motion and he has a lap full of Niall again. This time Niall’s crying his face hidden in the hollow of Zayn’s neck.

“Hey it’s okay. I came back. I wouldn’t leave you by yourself,” Zayn says trying to soothe him.

Niall calms down after a few minutes and takes the dummy for Zayn to put in his mouth. He sniffles with the dummy in his mouth, but doesn’t cry again.

Zayn reaches for the tissues that are sitting on the window sill and gently cleans Niall’s face of tears and snot, “You okay now?”

“Papa no go,” Niall mumbled through his dummy.

Zayn usually gets mad at him for talking with the dummy in his mouth, but this time he doesn’t say anything, “No, I won’t go anywhere else. I’ll stay with you all night.”

It seems to help Niall and his grip on Zayn’s shirt loosens. Zayn grabs the discarded blanket and hands it to Niall who takes it. Niall holds the blanket close to him and cuddles closer to Zayn.

“Do yo want to watch a movie?” Zayn asks after a few minutes.

Niall nods, but doesn’t move to go pick one out.

Zayn lightly pushes him, which makes Niall hold on tighter, “Hey, it’s okay. We can go see what movies there are okay? Come on, up.”

Niall’s slow to process what Zayn’s saying, but he does finally get off of Zayn and takes his hand instead so he knows Zayn’s still there. They go over to the case that holds all the movies they have and Zayn thanks the gods that Liam and Harry still have a thing for Disney movies every once in a while so they have a good selection.

“Pick one, anything,” Zayn says trying to push Niall into picking something out.

Niall looks at all the cases and finally his eyes light up when he sees Finding Nemo. He hands the case to Zayn.

“Nemo it is. Good choice,” Zayn says as he sets up the movie.

Niall stays close until they go back to the couch. Zayn sits down and Niall sits next to him with his head resting on his shoulder. Zayn has an arm around him as the movie starts. Halfway through Niall shifts and ends up with his head in Zayn’s lap. Zayn puts his hand in Niall’s hair and runs his fingers through it.

When the movie’s over Zayn sees that Niall’s asleep, so he gently gets up, laying Niall’s head on a pillow and getting the discarded afghan from the floor to cover him up. He turns off the movie so the title menu doesn’t play on an endless loop while Niall sleeps.

Making sure Niall isn’t going to wake up Zayn makes his way out of the lounge, closing the door behind him and goes in search of Liam. He has to talk to him about what he saw earlier.

Liam’s up in the front watching Harry and Louis play each other on FIFA, so it’s easy to get him to come talk.

“Li can we talk?” Zayn asks.

Liam looks away from the screen, “Yeah...be back in a few boys.”

Liam gets up, climbing over Harry’s legs and goes to Zayn, “What’s up?”

Zayn looks at the two others sitting there, not paying attention to them, but he still pulls Liam away and into the aisle between their bunks.

“I just wanted to talk about what you saw earlier,” Zayn says.

“What I saw?” Liam’s confused.

Zayn looks down to the floor, “You know...the bottle.”

“Oh that! Listen mate whatever it is, I’m cool, yeah? No need to get all embarrassed,” Liam replies.

Zayn lets out a sigh, “It wasn’t for me...it was for someone else.”

“It’s fine. I don’t care who it was for,” Liam replies.

Of course this would be the time Niall decides he needs to come out of the back lounge, sleep rumpled and with his dummy in his mouth.

“Papa?” he sleepily asks.

Zayn turns around and his eyes get big. He looks back to Liam and sees Liam putting the pieces together, “Oh...Oh! I-I’ll go now.”

“Liam wait!” Zayn says as Niall says, “Papa?”

Liam’s already back to watching Louis and Harry playing, so Zayn goes to Niall taking him in his arms, “Hey what’s going on? You were sleeping so peacefully.”

“Potty...and no Papa,” Niall replies.

“Okay, potty time and then back to sleep, yeah?” Zayn says leading him into the small bathroom.

Niall does what he needs to do in the bathroom and while they’re in there Zayn has him brush his teeth since he didn’t do so earlier.

“Do you want to sleep in Papa’s bunk or your bunk tonight?” Zayn asks.

“Papa,” Niall answers.

Zayn leads him to his bunk and gets him in it. He moves over to Niall’s and quickly finds George, who’s buried until the sheets, and brings him over to Niall.

“Go to sleep. I’ve got something to do first, okay?” Zayn says.

“No Papa stay,” Niall whines and grabs for Zayn.

Zayn puts his hand on his stomach and rubs it to sooth him, “Papa’s got something to do. I’ve got to talk to Liam, but I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Niall whines around his dummy, “No.”

“Come on Niall, baby, you’ve got George and your dummy. Now time to sleep,” Zayn replies.

“Banky?” Niall asks.

“I’ll go get your blanket from the back, but after it’s sleep time,” Zayn says.

Niall hesitates for a moment before letting Zayn go. Zayn makes his way to the back lounge and gets the blanket from where it was left on the couch and goes back to his bunk to give it to Niall. Niall takes it and cuddles down into bed.

“Sleep well, baby,” Zayn says and kisses Niall before closing the curtain to give him privacy.

Zayn moves back to the front to get Liam, but now he’s playing FIFA against Louis while Harry’s half paying attention while he’s on his phone.

Zayn sighs to himself and decides talking to Liam can wait until morning. He knows Liam won’t say anything to the two others, so he goes back to the bunks to get ready for bed. He strips out of his jeans and moves to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he returns to his bunk he opens the curtain as quietly as possible to not disturb the boy in it and climbs in. He closes the curtain and settles down by the wall. He takes the sleeping Niall into his arms and closes his eyes to sleep.

Niall grumbles, “Papa?”

“Hey, go to sleep,” Zayn whispers.

“Papa, what did Liam say?” Niall asks.

“I didn’t get to talk to him,” Zayn answers.

Niall cuddles closer, “He like baby Niall?”

Zayn’s stunned at the question. He didn’t know if Niall was fully awake when he walked out and saw Zayn with Liam.

“He does,” Zayn lies. He doesn’t know how to explain to Niall while he’s little that Liam might not like how Niall and he act.

Niall seems content with the answer, “Night Papa.”

Zayn kisses his forehead, “Night baby.”

* * *

The next morning Niall’s still in his headspace, so Zayn tries to keep him in his bunk while he goes to see who’s up. Luckily none of the others are in the front so it looks like they’re all still asleep.

Zayn goes about getting a bottle ready for Niall and making toast for him as well. They’ll have something more to eat once Niall’s make to being himself, but for now toast and bottle will do.

Going back to his bunk Zayn sees Liam’s legs sticking out of his which means he’s about to get up. Zayn quickly puts the toast and bottle in his hands into his bunk for Niall.

“Papa’s going to talk to Liam okay? You be a good boy and eat your breakfast,” Zayn says popping his head into the bunk.

Niall nods, “Okay.”

Zayn smiles and moves away from his bunk to go find Liam.

Luckily for him, Liam’s in the front getting himself some breakfast, “Hey...about last night.”

“I don’t want to know,” Liam says cutting Zayn off.

“No, I have to explain,” Zayn replies, “It’s...it’s not a sexual thing. Just a stress thing.”

Liam shrugs, “Whatever.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with it? Like you’re not going to tell Harry or Louis,” Zayn asks.

Liam shakes his head, “Mate, I told you I wouldn’t tell them about the bottle and I won’t tell them about Niall and you doing whatever is your doing...um what are you doing?”

Zayn smiles in relief, “It’s a way for Niall to relieve stress. He likes to be little. I found out about it by walking in on him. It’s not anything major. He just likes to have a dummy and cuddle from time to time.”

Liam nods, “And it’s only for stress?”

“Yes, nothing else. I wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t,” Zayn answers.

“Whatever makes you happy,” Liam says and gives Zayn a smile.

Zayn smiles back, “Thanks mate.”

“Not a problem,” Liam replies, “Uh, you might want to go check on him I see a leg coming out.”

Zayn turns and sees Niall’s leg as well. He goes over to see what’s going on and finds Niall’s got his bottle in his mouth and he’s watching TV.

“Comfortable?” Zayn asks.

Niall looks at him and smiles around the bottle in his mouth. Zayn ruffles his hair.

* * *

The week long break finally comes and with it the boys go their separate ways. Harry’s off to LA, Louis and Liam are going surfing in San Diego, and Zayn and Niall are going back to London.

Since Zayn doesn’t have anything to but hang out at his place he invites Niall to stay over. Niall agrees and his bags end up in the spare room.

The first night they’re at Zayn’s he makes dinner and treats Niall like he’s little even if he’s not in his headspace. Niall doesn’t think much of it until bedtime.

“C-can I sleep with you?” Niall asks.

“Course come on,” Zayn agrees and lets Niall into his bed.

Niall cuddles into the covers and turns to face Zayn, “Is it alright if I’m little for the week?”

Zayn thinks it over, “Yeah, yeah it’s cool. We can chill at the house all week. Don’t have anything to do.”

Niall gives him a smile, “Thanks.”

Zayn smiles back, “You’re welcome.”

The next morning Niall wakes up being little. He wants Zayn to carry him, which is new, but Zayn does it and it’s not that bad. Niall rests his head on his shoulder as they make their way to the kitchen to have breakfast.

Zayn sets him on a chair, “What do you want to eat?”

“Weetabix! Like Papa!” Niall happily answers.

Zayn smiles, “Weetabix coming right up.”

He grabs two bowls and the box of Weetabix from their cupboards. He gets the two bowls ready and finally gets the milk from the fridge to pour into the bowl over the cereal.

Moving over to the table with a bowl for Niall he places it in front of Niall who frowns down at it.

“What’s wrong?” Zayn asks.

“No choc’late! I want choc’late!” Niall demands. He crosses his arms and pouts.

“I don’t have chocolate Weetabix. You have to the regular kind,” Zayn calmly says. He will not fall into a yelling match.

“NO!” Niall howls, “Want choc’late!” He hits the bowl from the table where it falls to the floor and the milk and cereal to everywhere.”

What has gotten into you?” Zayn yells at him, “Time out, now!”

It’s the first time Zayn has to punish him and the look on Niall’s face makes his heart break slightly as he sees tears fill Niall’s eyes.

“Swrry, me swrry,” Niall cries and clings to Zayn.

Zayn stays firm and takes Niall to the corner of his living room and puts him there for timeout, “You’re in timeout for throwing your food. Five minutes.”

“No! Me Swrry,” Niall cries as tries to keep Zayn with him. He holds on Zayn’s waist crying into his shirt.

Zayn sighs, “No...five minutes and after we’ll talk.”

Niall holds on tighter, “Papa, swrry. Me be good.”

Zayn shakes his head and tries to get Niall’s arm from around him off, “The longer you cry and hold onto me the longer it will be for time out to be over.”

Niall lets go of Zayn and lets his arms hang next to him in defeat. He’s still got tears coming down his face though.

“Five minutes,” Zayn says and walks away. He hears Niall let out a sob and it makes his heart break more, but he stays strong and goes back to the kitchen to clean up the mess Niall made.

When five minutes are up Zayn goes back to Niall and finds him sitting there hands in his lap and his face red from the tears.

“Hey baby, time out’s over,” Zayn quietly says and kneels down in front of him.

Niall looks up at him, “Me swrry.”

Zayn nods, “I know. Come on give me a hug.”

Niall launches into Zayn’s arms and he’s almost knocked over from the force but stays up as Niall holds onto him tightly. He kisses Niall’s temple and rubs his back as they stay in the hug.

Niall pulls back, “Breakfast?”

“Yeah, but are you going to be good?” Zayn asks.

Niall nods, “Me good!”

Zayn smiles and kisses him once more on the cheek.

* * *

The rest of the week is spent much the same. They stay around the house and only venture out to the back garden to have a picnic lunch one day. Niall loves being out in the garden and he kicks around the football that Zayn has out there.

The last day of their break Zayn knows he has to get Niall back to being big. This is the longest Niall’s gone being little, so it’s going to hurt both of them when he’s back.

That night Zayn sits Niall down on the couch after they have dinner. Niall tries to cuddle into his arms, but Zayn doesn’t let him.

“Niall, we have to talk for a moment okay?” Zayn asks.

Niall nods in understanding.

Zayn sighs before he continues, “Tomorrow we go back on tour, so that means no more little Niall all the time you. Have to be big Niall again. Do you understand?”

Niall thinks for a moment then shakes his head, “No. Me little.”

“I know you’re little right now, but tomorrow you have to be big. We have a job to do. Go back on tour and see the boys,” Zayn tells him. He takes Niall’s hands in his, “You like tour and seeing the boys. All the fans screaming your name as your on stage.”

Niall listens and starts to understand, “No little. Yes big. Me be big again, so I see Louis and Harry and Liam.”

Zayn gives him a smile, “Yeah that’s right.”

Niall’s eyes fill with tears. He holds them back, but he sniffs, “No little. Be big.”

Zayn pulls him in, “Yeah, but that’s tomorrow. You can be little right now.”

Niall sniffs again and Zayn can feel his tears leaking out. He rubs Niall’s back as he cries and kisses him to try to make him feel better.

When Niall’s done crying he pushes away from Zayn, “Sleepy.”

“Okay come on let’s go to bed,” Zayn says and helps Niall up from the couch.

They get changed into pyjamas and brush their teeth before getting into bed. Zayn picks up the dummy that’s on the nightstand and gives it to Niall who takes it right with his mouth.

Zayn pulls Niall close to him to cuddle, “I love you, little or big.”

“Lwv you,” Niall replies.

* * *

The next morning Niall wakes up still little, but by the end of breakfast he’s back to being big. He helps Zayn wash the last of the dishes and packs up his suitcase so it’s ready to go for when the car gets there to take them to the airport.

Zayn comes up behind him, “You feel better?”

Niall nods, “Yeah, thanks for letting me be little the whole time.”

Zayn smiles “It’s no problem. I like it.” He takes Niall into his arms and hugs him close. Zayn kisses his temple before letting him go, “We’ve got time before the car comes. One last bottle?”

Niall smiles, “Pwease.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this came about because Zayn's protective of Niall and I've been reading some age play fics, and I wanted to write my own. Hopefully you enjoyed it! I might have another part to this verse, but as of right now it's a one-shot.
> 
> If you notice the title is taken from the song of the same name. I suggest listening to the Taken By Trees cover because it's beautiful.


End file.
